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Dow finishes lower to cap wild week on Wall Street

Capping a week of wild trading on Wall Street, stocks ended Friday on a quiet note.

The Dow fell 76 points, or about 0.3%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.1%. The Nasdaq rose slightly.

The Dow's decline followed two consecutive days of gains. The Dow failed to increase three days in a row in December.

Stocks often finish December with rallies, but this isn't a typical December. Huge swings in both directions have sent investors' heads spinning. The Dow had its worst-ever Christmas Eve on Monday, only to post its best-ever point gain when trading resumed on Wednesday. Stocks were sharply lower for most of Thursday before roaring back
at the close to finish the day in positive territory.

The Dow managed to gain 617 points this week, easily the best performance of the month. The S&P 500, which came within inches of entering a bear market
multiple times this week, ended the week nearly 3% higher to ease fears that the longest-ever bull market will soon come to an end.

The Nasdaq had the best week of the three major indices, up about 4%, as investors increased their appetite -- slightly -- for risk. Tech stocks performed well overall this week, with the FAANG stocks all rising.

Even GE (GE
), one of the year's worst performers on the stock market, rose 5% this week.

In a quiet week for news, market analysts say extreme volatility has been driven by thin trading volume and stocks hitting technical limits that rapidly drive sentiment from fear to greed and back again.

"As the market continues to worry about a recession, the implications of a trade war with China, and unpredictable and adverse political decision-making from the White House, we are going to continue to see volatility," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance.

Despite this week's gains, December has been a miserable month for stocks. This December is the worst for stocks since 1931.

"The rough market has worn on the psyches of investors," said Scott Wren, senior global equities strategist for Wells Fargo, in a note to clients. "This year turned quickly from meeting our expectations for the S&P 500 to falling well short of those expectations over the course of a few short weeks."

European markets
rose by about 2% Friday, while stocks in Asia eked out smaller gains.